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Class] » R 



Author. 



Title 



Imprint. 



16—47372-1 GPO 



Sylvester Ba^getwood. 



AN INTERLUDE. 



AS PERFORMED AT THE NEW-YORK AND 



PHILADELPHIA THEATRE&. 





NEW-YORK : 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT THE 

Oirculating Library and Dramatic Repositert)^ 

No. 4 Chamber-stre&t. 

E. M. Murden, print. 

1824. 



t 

^ DRAMATIS FERSONjE. 



NeW'York. 
•ylvester Dionysus Daggerwood, Mr, Wallack. 

I'ustian, Watkinsov. 

John, Nexew. 



SYLVESTER DAGGERWOOD. 



;^CENE — .'? Chamber — Fustian nnd Daggeii- 
WOOD discovered — Fustian sitting in one chair, 
Duggerwood asleep in unothei. The clock 
strikes eleven. 

Fits. Eight, nine, ten, cloven ! — Zounds, 
eleven o'clock ; and h(;rc I liavR been waiting; 
ever since nine, for an interview with the man- 
ager, (a servant crosses the sta^e) 
— Harkye, young man, i;s your master visible 
vet ? 

Serv. Sir ! 

Fits. 1 say, can I see your master ? 

Serv. He has two genllenien with him at 
present, sir. 

Fus. Ay. the old answer. Who is this asleep 
here in the corner ? 

Serv. Oh ! that, sir, is a gentleman who 
wants to come out. 

Fus. Corne cut ! then awake him, and open 
the donr. 'Gad, the greatest difficulty at this 
house is to L;et in. 

Serv. Ha 1 ha ! I mean, he wants to appear 
on the fvHgo, sir ; 'tis Mr. Sylvester Dagger- 
wood, of the Dunstable Corrp?uiy. 

Fits. Oho ! a country candidate for a Lon- 
don truncheon, a sucking Prince of Denmark — 
Damaie, he snores like d tinker — fatigued with 
.^i? journey, I siippofe. 

'-.erv. No. .-ii — he has taken 9. nap in this 
1 



6 SYLVESTER 

room these five mornings — but hasn't been ab) 
to obtain an audience here, yet. 

Fm. No, nor at Dunstable, neither, 1 tal . 
it. 

Serv. I am so loth to disturb him, poor ger, 
tleman, that I never wake him till a full hon 
after my master is* gone out. 

Fus. Upon my soul, that's very obliging ! i 
roust keep watch here, 1 find, like a lynx. Weii 
friend, you'll let you master know Mr. Fusti r 
is here, when the two gentlemen have left hi 
at leisure. 

Serv. The moment they make their exit. 

[ex'> 
Fus. Make their exit ! this fellow must ha^ 
lived here some time, by his language, and, i 
warrant him, lies by rote like a parrot, (o 
down and pulls out a manuscript) \i I could Ui' 
this manager for a minute, I'd read him such u 
tragedy. 

Dag. {dreaming) Nay, and thou'lt mouth — 

I'll rant as well as thee 

Fus. Eh ! damme, he's talking in his sleep '. 
acting Hamlet before twelve tallow candles 
the country. 

Dag. " To be, or not to be" — 
Fus. Yes — he's at it— let me sec— {turning 
over the leaves of his play) I think there's no 
doubt of its running. 

Dag. {dreaming) " That is the question.' - 
" Who would fardels bear" — 

Fus. Zounds ! there's no bearing you ! — iiis 
grace's patronage will fill h-ilf the side boxes, 
and 1 warrant we'll stuff the critics into the ; it. 



DiVGGERWOOD. J 

Dag. [dreaming) " To groan and sweat" — - 
" When lie himself might his quietus make" — 
Fus. Quietus! 1 wish «ith all my heart I 
could make your's. The countess of Cram- 
bo insists on the best places for the first night 
of performance ; sha'll sit in the stage box. 
Dag. [stiil dreaming) "With a bare bodkin !" 
Fus. O, the devil, there's no enduring this ! 
Sir, sir ! {xsoaking him) Do you intend to sleep 
any more ? 

Dag. (wakitig) Eh ! what ? — when ? 
" Methought 1 heard a voice cry, Sleep no 
more." 

Fus, Faith, sir, you heard something very 
like it, and that voice was mine. 

Dag. Sir, I am your respective servant to 
command, Sylvester Daggerwood — whose bene- 
fit is fixed for the eleventh of June, by par- 
ticular desire of several persons of distinction ; 
you'd make an excellent Macbeth, sir. 
Fus. Sir! 

Dag. " Macbeth doth murder sloep, the in- 
nocent sleep, balm of hurt minds, great nature's 
second course." — Faith, and very often the 
first course, too ; when a dinner is unavoida- 
bly deferred, by your humble servant to com- 
mand, Sylvester Driggervvood. 

Fus. I am very s^orry, sir, you should ever 
have occasion to postpone so pUa?ant a per- 
formance. 

Dag. Eating, sir ! is a most popular enter- 
tainment for a man and horse, as 1 may say — 
but I am apt to appear nice, sir — and, some- 
how or other, I never could manage to sit r!oivr> 
to dinner in a bad company. 



8 SYLVKSTER 

Fus. Has your company been bad, then, of 
late, sir ? 

Dag. Damn'd bad, indeed, sir — The Dun- 
stable coinpany — where 1 have eight shillings a 
week, four bits of candle, one wife, three shirts, 
and nine children. 

Fus. A very numerous family. 
Dag. A crowded house to be sure, sir, but 
not very profitable. Mrs. Daggerwood, a fine 
figure, but, unfortunately, stutters ; so of no 
use in the theatrical line. Children too young 
to make a debut, except my oldest, master 
Apollo Daggerwood, a youth only eight years 
old, who has twice made his appearance in 
Tom Thumb to an overflowing and brilliant 
barn — house. I mean — with unbounded and uni- 
versal applause. 

Fus. Have you been long on the stage, Mr. 
Daggerwood ? 

Dag. Fifteen years since I first smelt the 
lamp, sir : my father was an eminent button- 
maker, at BirmLngh;im, and meant to marry me 
to Miss Molly Motre, daughter to the rich di- 
rector of the coalworks at Wolverhampton • 
but 1 had a soul above buttons, and abhorred 
the idea of a merceaaiy marriage — I panted 
for a liberal profession — so ran away from my 
father, and engaged with a travelling coinpany 
of comedians ; in my travels 1 hud soon the 
happiness of forming a romantic attachment 
with the present Mrs. Da^sjerwood, wife to 
Sylvester Drtsrgeivvood, vour humble servant to 
comniiuid, whose benelit is fixed for the ele- 
venth of June, by particular desire ot several 



DAGGERWOOD. 9 

persons of distinction— so you see, sir, I hare 
a taste. 

Fus. Have you ? then sit down, and I'll 
read you my tragedy : I am determined some- 
body shall hear it before 1 go out of the house. 
(5tfs down) 

Datr. A fragedy '. — Sir, I'll be ready for you 
in a moment ; let me prepare for wo. {takes 
out a very ragged pocket-handkerchief) " This 
handkerchief did an Egyptian to my mother 
give." 

Fus. Faith, I should think so — and, to all 
appearance, one of the Norwood party. 

Dag. Now, sir, for your title, and then for 
the dramatis personae. 

Fus. The title, 1 think, will strike: the 
fashion of plays, you know, is to do away old 
prejudices, and to rescue certain characters 
from the illiberal odium with which custom has 
marked them. Thus we have a generous Is- 
raelite, an amiable Cynic — and so on. Now, 
sir, I call my play — The Humane Footpad. 

Dag. What? 

Fus. There's a title for you ! Isn't it hap- 
py ! Eh, how do you like my Footpad ? 

Dag. Humph! VVhy, I think he'll strike — 
but then lie ought to be properly executed. 

Fus. Oh, sir, let me alone for that. An ex- 
ception to a general rule is, now, the grand se- 
cret for dramatic composition. Mine is a free- 
booter of benevolence, and plunders witli sen- 
timent. 

Dag. Theremay be something in that ; and, 
for my psirt, I was always with Shakspeare — 
" Who steals my purse, steals trash." 



10 SYLVESTER 

I never had any weighty reason yet for think- 
ing ollierwise. Now, sir, as we say, please to 
" leave your damnable faces, and begin." 

Fui. My damnable faces ! 

Da^. Come — '* we'll lo't like French fal- 
coners." 

Fus. (reading) Scene first — a dark wood — 
flight. 

Dii<^. A very awful beginning. 

Fus. (reading) The moon behind a cloud. 

Dag. That's nevr. An audience never saw 
a moon bebind a cloud before — but it will be 
devilish difficult to paint. 

Fus. Don't interrupt— where was 1 ! Oh, 
behind a cloud. 

Dug. " The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous 
palaces — " 

Fus. Hey, the devil ! what are you at ? 

Dag. Beg pardon ; but that speech never 
conies into my head but it runs away with me. 
Proceed. 

Fus. (^reading) Enter — 

Dag. " The solemn temples — " 

Fus. Nay, then, I've done. 

Dag. So have I. I'm dumb. 

Fus. (reading) Enter Egbert, musing — 

D//g. O. P. 

Fus. Pshaw ! what does that signify ? 

Dag. Not much— "The great globe itself—" 

Fns. (reading) Egbert musing. Clouded in 
night I come — 

Dag. (starting vp) 
" The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
" The solemn temples," &.c. &.c. 

Fiis. (gets up) Damme, he's mad ! a bedlam- 



DAGGERWOOD. H 

ite ! raves like a Lear, and foams out a folio of 
Shakspeare without drawing breath ; I am al- 
most afraid to stay in the room with him. 
Enter Servant. 

Oh, I'm glad you are come, friend! now 1 shall 
be delivered : your master would be glad to see 
me, I warrant? 

Serv. My master is gone out, sir. 

Fus. Gone out ! 

Dag. " Oh, day and night, but this is wond'- 
rous strange !" 

Fits. What, without seeing me, who have 
been waiting for him these three hours ! 

Dag, Three hours! pugh — I've slept here 
for five mornings in his old arm chair. 

Serv. He ordered me to tell you, gentle- 
men, he was particularly sorry— but he is 
obliged to hurry down to the Haymarket. The 
theatre opens this evening, and Mr. Bannister, 
Jan. and Mr. Suett, are to meet him there on 
particular business. 

Fus. They are ! and what the devil, friend, 
have I to do with Mr. Bannister, jun. ? Damn 
Mr. Bannister, jun ! 

Dag. And damn Mr. Suett! what the devil 
have I to do with Mr. Suett ? Now he hajf 
shirked us ; I'll lay you an even bet he has 
5one to neither of them. 

Fus. Pretty treatment ! pretty treatment, 
truly! to be kept here half the morning, kick- 
ing my heels in a manager's anti-room, shut up 
with a mad Dunstable actor. 

Dag. Mad ! Zounds, sir ! I'd have yoa to 



12 SYLVESTER DAGGERW^^. 

know that " when the wind's southerly, I know 
a hawk from a hand-saw." 

Fus. Tell your master, friend, tell your mas* 

ter but no matter ; he don't catch rae 

here again, that's all: damme, I'll go home, 
turn my play into a pageant, put a triumphal 
procession at the end on't, and bring it out at 
one of the winter theatres. [Exit. 

Dag. (<o the servant) Young man, you know 
me, 1 shall come to the old arm chair again to- 
morrow, but must go to Dunstable the day after, 
for a week to iSnish my engagement— Wish for 
an interview— inclination to tread the London 
boards, and so on : you know my name, Mr. 
Sylvester Daggerwood, whose benefit is fixed 
for the eleventh day of June, by particular de- 
sire of several persons of distinction. 

Serv. I shall be sure to tell him, sir. 

Dag. *' I find the apt — 
And duller would'st thou be than the fat weed, 
That rots itself at ease on Lethe's wharf, 
Would'st thou not stir in this." 

Open the street-door : go on, I'll follow thee. 

[Exit. 



FINIS. 



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